[Correspondence] Alpha-chain disease: a lymphomagenesis model

June 29, 2018

The Lancet 391, 10139 (2018)

Author: Claude Matuchansky

Science is generally more interested in exploring the unknowns and mysteries of the present and future than in commemorating events of the past. However, recalling certain works (ie, apparent breakthroughs in their given field at the time of publication) to measure their contributions and the progress made over the ensuing years, can be useful. In this case, alpha-chain disease is of paramount interest. Thanks to the exemplary collaboration between a clinician, Jean-Claude Rambaud, and a physician scientist in immunology, Maxime Seligmann, the discovery in 1968 of alpha-chain disease1,2 in a young Syrian woman with an abdominal lymphoma led to game-changing outcomes over the following 50 years, including a model of lymphomagenesis that is still in progress.